Okay the winner of the uber-pretty, one of a kind purse, with it’s books, gift certificates and other goodies…

melissac******r@g****.com

Melissa, I need you to email me @ shilohwalker(at)gmail.com

UTA: 12/17/09 Sadly, Melissa never contacted me so the purse and all it’s contents will go to another. I’ve drawn a new name which will post on 12/18. Reminder, guys, if you enter my contests, it’s YOUR responsibility to check back and see if you win. This is stated in my blog’s disclaimer page.

The final four daily winners are:

Mireyah

iokijo

Cherylnne

berryblu

Thanks to everybody who entered, preordered, commented and posted about the giveaway.

***********

I’ve got three more signings coming up, one in New Albany, Indiana and two in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“No. I can’t. Brad, I have to find something on my own. Some place of my own…something that’s mine. Something I worked for, something I earned. I’m losing myself here, baby. You’ve got a life laid out before you. You belong here—as much as Neal doesn’t belong, as much as I don’t, you do. This is your life. But it’s not mine.”

“Maybe that’s because you won’t let it be.”

Ana shook her head. “That’s not it. I don’t have that kind of strength in me. I don’t have that drive, that need. We have it, or we don’t…and I don’t have what it takes to be one of a Hunter.”

Brad shrugged, a rough, jerky motion but he finally looked at her. The hurt and loneliness in his eyes made her throat constrict and she could feel herself giving in. What could it hurt to stay a few more months…a few more years?

But then the memory of Neal’s anger flashed through her mind, sizzling against her shields. He hadn’t hurt Brad, and she suspected he wouldn’t. However, she couldn’t say the same for herself. Neal looked at her and saw prey. She doubted he was the only one. If Neal had hurt her, what would it have done to Brad?

What would Brad have done? She had to leave, for Brad as much as for herself. Before his worry for her ended up making him do something he’d regret—or worse, something he wouldn’t regret. She’d be damned if she caused him problems. He needed to focus on himself now, needed to stop worrying about her so much. Hell, maybe if she was gone, he could enjoy what little was left of his childhood instead of trying to take care of her so much.

“This is for the best,” she said softly.

He swallowed convulsively, then nodded. “Will you come back? Ya know, to visit me? Can I come see you?”

“Yes. As often as I can, and as often as you want.”

“Maybe…maybe you don’t have to go far. I mean, maybe you could find a job in Huntington or something…”

“Maybe.” But they both knew otherwise.

“I don’t want you to go,” Brad mumbled, ducking his head. There was a suspicious sniffle and when he looked back at her, his eyes were damp.

“I know.”

He wrapped thin, bony arms around her and for a minute, she let herself pretend they were younger. For a minute, she let herself pretend she hadn’t totally failed him.

“I’ll miss you.”

He hugged her tight and then stepped away. Smiling sadly, he said, “But you really want to get away from here, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. And I think I need to. For both of us.”

Away from Excelsior. Away from Virginia. Away from people who didn’t know her every shortcoming. Away from people who kept looking at her and just waiting for her to screw up again. Away from people who looked at the siblings and judged them both based on what Ana had done.

Away from Duke…

She shied away from that silent voice, but not quick enough. A memory flashed through her mind—those dark gray eyes, staring down at her as though nothing, no one else in the world existed. The warmth of his body. The strength.

Yes. Away from Duke—away from just another reminder of how inadequate she was.

If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.

If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.

You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.

Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.

Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.

Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.

Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.

Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.

Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting. So enter while it’s open!

Just a reminder…as I mentioned in the beginning of the month, there will be no excerpts posted on Thanksgiving or the Friday after. Last excerpt goes up on Monday…

Hunter's Need...releases 12/1

___________________

“It’s for the best, Brad,” Ana said, sighing as she settled down on the bed beside Brad, draping an arm around his shoulders. She’d known the time was coming, but after the debacle with Neal a few weeks earlier, she’d finally admitted it to herself.

It was time to leave. “Look…I don’t really belong here, anyway. You know it as well as I do.”

“If you weren’t supposed to be here, they’d make you leave. Just like they made Neal leave.” He shrugged away from her embrace and climbed off the bed to pace the small room that had been her home for the past four years. “I don’t want you to go.”

For once, he sounded more like a kid than the miniature adult that he’d been all of his life.

“I know you don’t,” she said softly. “But…” her words trailed off and she looked away, licking her lips and trying to figure out how to explain.

She didn’t need to. Even with her shields up, even with his own, her younger brother could read her. His eyes narrowed on her face and reached out, grabbing her shoulder when she would have evaded.

That simple touch was all it took to deepen the connection and she winced as she saw the knowledge flare in his eyes. It was followed quickly by hurt. “You…you want to leave,” he whispered. “You want to?”

Sometimes, being gifted just plain sucked. “Brad…”

She reached out to touch him but he jerked away, staring at her. Confused, unhappy, and hurt, he shook his head. “Why? Why don’t you want to be around me?”

“Oh, Brad. Honey, it’s not you. You are the only person that’s made it tolerable being here.” This time, when he would have pulled back, she didn’t let him. She linked their hands, taken aback by how much bigger his hands looked next to hers now. Too quick—he was growing up too quick, most of his childhood lost to pain, misery and cruelty. “I love you, you know that. I’ve done the best I could to take care of you after Mom died. If you needed me, you know nothing would get me away from you. But you don’t need me, not any more. I can’t teach you anything—as far as our gifts go, you left me in the dust ages ago. I’m not putting a roof over your head, I’m not putting food in your belly—they are.” She waved her hand towards the school and forced herself to smile. “I’m not jealous, although I wish I could have done half as much for you as Excelsior has done. But I’m useless here. I’m nothing but dead weight and I can’t keep being like that. I need to find something—”

If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.

If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.

You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.

Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.

Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.

Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.

Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.

Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.

Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting. So enter while it’s open!

“Enough.” The word, coolly spoken, just bare managed to penetrate the haze of fury that gripped Duke. Kelsey stepped up and laid a hand on his shoulder.

He knew what she was doing—he felt it, the calm she tried to project into him. Tried and failed. He was too fucking pissed. He had to force his hands to let go, had to force himself to step away. He dragged in a deep breath of air, but it did nothing to clear his head. The air was ripe with the scents of adrenaline, Neal’s anger, and the lingering trace of Ana’s fear.

Neal, fangs dropped and his eyes half-wild, glared at Duke. “What in the fuck is your problem?”

The big vampire had been utterly silent until just a moment ago. Now he studied Duke with curious eyes, his head cocked. He had dark blue eyes, and they were usually about as easy to read as a closed book, but right now, they danced with humor.

For some reason, Duke knew the humor was directed at him but he really didn’t give a damn. “If you’re expecting me to apologize, you’re going to be waiting a good long while.” Then he circled around them and left. At the door, he stopped and looked at Neal. He curled his lip and growled.

Malachi and Kelsey watched as he left. “It gets annoying—how often you are right,” Mal said to his wife.

She just smiled. The smile died, though, as she shifted her gaze to Neal. “I believe it’s best if you left now.”

If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.

If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.

You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.

Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.

Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.

Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.

Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.

Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.

Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting. So enter while it’s open!

A rage that made no sense to Duke. Even as he prowled around the vampire, struggling against the urge to pounce, there was a saner part of his mind that kept demanding, What in the hell is your problem?

Ana wasn’t hurt—nobody would have let it go that far. He didn’t even waste time trying to convince himself that he’d be this pissed no matter who the woman had been. Of course he’d been pissed. Ready to rip a throat out.

Except he knew his reaction wouldn’t be this extreme.

Ana—that bastard had put his hands on Ana.

“You put your hands on her—after she made it clear she didn’t want you touching her. But you want us to buy that you wouldn’t hurt her?” he asked quietly, pacing in a tight circle around Neal.

Neal echoed Duke’s movements, keeping the shifter in his sight. Baffled, he said, “You make her sound like some kindergarten teacher, like I was going to grab her, rape her and drain her dry, just for breathing. She’s not some damned innocent. She’s not some helpless victim. She’s not—”

“She’s mortal.” Duke closed the distance between them and reached out. Vamps were quick. Shifters? Quicker. Neal didn’t have time to evade as Duke grabbed him and whirled. Slamming the vamp back into the wall, Duke repeated, “She’s mortal—she’s got psychic gifts, but her power is all in the mind. She’s got no offensive powers, she’s no stronger than some kindergarten teacher. She gets hurt, she’ll take just as long to heal as any other mortal. You cut her, she’ll bleed like any other mortal.”

Neal shoved Duke back, but he was still caught in the grip of that inexplicable rage and he snarled at the younger man, flashing incisors that had already begun to lengthen. His gray eyes swirled and pinwheeled, glowing with ominous warning. Rage—hot, thick and potent, spiraled inside him, straining against his skin, fighting to tear past the confines of his self-control.

Over her—

Ana…

The man inside him struggled with it, fought to understand it. The animal inside him didn’t care.

If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.

If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.

You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.

Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.

Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.

Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.

Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.

Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.

Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting. So enter while it’s open!